Is Blippex the Next Big Search Engine?

Meet Blippex. While it's not yet used as a verb, it is being regarded as a contender in the search engine market. But not because it's the next Google.

Bippex It.

Unlike Google, Blippex's founders don't rank searches by how many sites link to them. Rather, they regard search as a way to connect people to their interests. Once users have installed the browser extension, Blippex monitors how long people visit a website. With that data, they've built a search engine and rank the search results based on the time people spend on a webpage. This of course assumes that the longer users spend on a page the more important it is.

(Obviously, there is much debate as to whether time spent on a site is a measure of a well-designed site or a poorly organized one. Let's set that aside for a moment.)

Unlike other search engines that aim to compete with Google by trying to out Google them (ahem, Bing!) or market themselves as the anti-Google (Duck, Duck, Go anyone?), Blippex aims to put search in the hands of the people who use it. They have the option to anonymously provide the URL and time spent on sites they visit, which in turn, gives them a search engine that is constructed by user behavior and interest.

Use it or Lose it

In way, Blippex is sort of genius - it becomes better the more people use it. On the other hand, as a user, I don't want to work any harder to find what I want. Even as people protest against how much information Google is able to access about the average user, the fact is Google is good at delivering us information. Additionally, while web search is still relevant, mobile search is even more so. Blippex is only available as a mobile app via Google Play (ironically), while means that iOs users will have to go out of their way to search via Blippex while on the go.

Still, as of August, Blippex logged in one million searches -- and it took them less than four weeks to do it. Blippex may not aim to be the next Google, but it will be measured against the most popular search engine no matter what it does. And like all other search engines who have come (and gone), only time will tell if Blippex is just a blip or the next big thing.